Fate is Cruel
by bespectacled-lazy
Summary: [FF13 AU] Kazunari Takao's curiosity ultimately lead him to becoming a Pulse l'cie. Now, as an enemy of the world, he has to find out what his focus is before it's too late. He searches to find an answer to his focus and fights those who oppose him. Unfortunately, he is alone for his lover works for the sanctum, meaning he is his enemy as well. [MidoTaka]


**A/N: An AU story that take place in the Final Fantasy XIII universe. I honestly got this idea after learning that Midorima's voice actor, Daisuke Ono, also voices Snow Villiers in the Japanese version of the game. After learning that, I got so many crazy imaginations about the l'Cie stuff revolved around MidoTaka. Let's just say that this fanfiction is a product of my crazy imagination. Also, it doesn't really follow the game's plot. Only the concepts and terminologies are from the game.**

**A lot of the terms were researched from the Final Fantasy wiki.**

**Episode I: An Unwilling Enemy**

* * *

A gasp escaped Takao's lips as he opened his eyes in cold sweat. He had a terrifying dream. Before he could recall it, he noticed his surroundings.

"I'm still at the ruins."

Kazunari Takao was an ordinary twenty-year-old man attending university in Bodhum. For his history class, he had to do a project regarding the history of the world, which got him curious about the Pulse Vestige for quite some time. Since the ruins were unexplored, he thought it might be a good chance to explore it and make some discoveries that can be useful for his project due to the fal'cie having an important part of Cocoon's history.

How he wished he could turn back time. Entering the ruins was a simple task since the door was already open; it didn't have an opening a few days ago, oddly. When he got inside, he was exasperated at the complex interior. As he was looking around, the stairs he was on started to move on its own. He tried to look for another way out but managed to get lost. The ruins were like a labyrinth. He managed to find a strange room in the ruins. There was a strange object in the middle of said room. He was curious about this object but knew that touching it would be a bad idea since it was an object of Pulse. He managed to get a picture of it. He was going to leave but he heard a strange noise and found himself confronting an odd creature above him. From its strange appearance, he assumed that this creature is a fal'cie, an immortal said to have created and governed the world. A fal'cie can choose people to become l'cie and give them special tasks called foci to fulfill for them.

There were two types of fal'cie: Cocoon and Pulse. Cocoon fal'cie were said to create Cocoon and currently were immobile objects that the people worship. Pulse fal'cie were said to destroy Cocoon thus considered to be threats. Takao was in a Pulse ruins thus the fal'cie above him is a Pulse fal'cie. If he were to be branded by a Pulse fal'cie, then he would become an enemy of Cocoon. He wanted to escape but before he could move, he was caught by the fal'cie and fell unconscious soon after.

He had a terrifying dream about Cocoon's destruction. The cause of the destruction was due to a powerful attack on the world and the culprit behind it was he. Remembering a strong force on his shoulder, he rolled up the left sleeve of his shirt and saw a small black mark. He was branded by a Pulse fal'cie. The brands of a l'cie were different. Cocoon brands are just a crest while Pulse brands are a small black tattoo with arrows, just like the one he has right now.

Kazunari Takao has become an enemy of Cocoon. However, as a l'cie, he does not know what his focus is. All he had was a dream to destroy the world. Was that his focus? Before he could conjecture any ideas, his phone started to vibrate.

He checked his phone to see a message. Takao was popular with people for his outgoing and friendly personality. He did not care much about gender since he liked both women and men. The message he received was from his lover, a man. He was usually happy to receive mail from him but with his current situation, he was terrified. His fear was partially due to his being branded a Pulse l'cie but his biggest fear was exposing this to his lover. His lover was quite an unusual person. He happened to be a l'cie branded by the Sanctum. What was unusually about his branding was that it happened at the same time as a few other people. The Sanctum collected those branded l'cies and called them the Generation of Miracles for they were expected to bring prosperity to Cocoon.

The text message said: _**Takao, where are you? I told you to meet up at the beach around 4:00.**_

He checked the time. It was 5:00. He was an hour late. This did not concern him at all. He was more concerned of the fact that his lover was now his enemy. He was happy and committed to his relationship and even promised him that they would stay together until death but now, he can't keep that promise anymore.

His mind became distracted as he felt a breeze. His eyes notice the entrance and wondered how he got back to the entrance when he was at the fal'cie's study, an area far from the entrance. He took this opportunity and got up to leave the Pulse Vestige after rolling his sleeve back down to conceal his brand.

Even if he was an hour late, he was still going to meet up with his lover. He was going to pretend that everything is fine and that nothing happened. Hiding the fact that he's concealing his brand might be a bit hard since his lover, although quiet, is very perceptive. It was going to be tricky making up a lie.

He found his lover, a tall man with green hair and eyes covered with glasses sitting on the dock reading a book. In order to lighten up the atmosphere, he quietly snuck up behind him and gave him a gentle embrace.

"Shin-chan!"

He indulged in his warmth. The taller man was very warm. He wanted to feel this warmth forever but now, he can't. He wondered how long it would take for word to get around about his being a Pulse l'cie.

"Takao…" muttered Midorima as he closed his book. "You're late."

Takao released his grip on Midorima and still gave him a grin. "Sorry. I accidentally fell asleep at the school library. Researching stuff for history projects can be quite boring."

"Is that so…? Anyways, where do you want to go today?"

Shintaro Midorima, although a Sanctum l'cie, resided in Eden, a city far from Bodhum. Takao was born in Eden but moved to Bodhum due to his father's work. Since the Generation of Miracles were quite renowned, they had to do everything by group. The government provided them a quiet education at the seaside town of Bodhum where Takao eventually met and befriended Midorima after getting to know each other due to being in the basketball club in school.

He eventually developed feelings for him after realizing that he felt that way for him. Midorima eventually accepted those feelings and that's how they became lovers. It was just a generic story.

Since the Sanctum heavily guarded Midorima, he has to go back and forth from different cities just in case something happens. Recently, they made the Generation of Miracles separate and watch over some of the cities just in case if there happened to be disaster lurking about. Midorima is stationed at Bodhum by his own choice along with his bodyguards and attends the same university as Takao.

"Well, I just wanted to go around town and eat dinner with you."

"Alright then."

Before they could go anywhere, Midorima's phone started to ring. An angered Takao started to yell, "We're trying to go on a date, stupid phone!"

"Be quiet," muttered Midorima as he got out his phone to see whom the caller was. "It's Kimura-san." He received the call, "Hello?" After a few minutes, Midorima ended the call with, "Alright. I'll go back."

"Is something the matter? Why did Kimura-san call you?"

"He said something urgent happened and I need to go back home in order to get all the details."

"Well, if it's urgent then you need to go back right now!" He gently pushed Midorima. "Hurry and go back home! We can meet up again on another day."

"A-Alright…" They parted ways. After seeing that Midorima was no longer in sight, Takao decided to sit down on the dock.. The sunset was pretty and the ocean's reflection made it even more beautiful.

"I wish I can go back in time and prevent myself from entering those ruins." He couldn't help entering the ruins since he was curious about how there was an opening even though it never had one until recently. What happened in the past cannot be changed anymore and now, he had a grim future ahead of him. If he cannot complete his focus, he will become a cie'th, a mindless corpse that is a reminiscent of l'cies who fail their foci. If he were to complete his focus, he would enter the crystal stasis, where a l'cie becomes a crystal. He had to pick between eternal damnation as a cie'th or eternal imprisonment as a crystal. A l'cie's fate was painful either way.

If Takao had to choose one, he would rather enter crystal stasis rather than becoming a cie'th. From what he had heard about in legends, l'cies who enter crystal stasis are granted eternal life. Cie'ths were granted eternal sorrow and misery until they stop moving which ultimately becomes death.

"The only problem I have is that I don't know what my focus is." He placed a hand to the area where his brand was. "That dream I had was very vague. It was a vision of my destroying the world. Is that my focus, perhaps?"

He noticed the sky darkening. He proceeded to get up and head on home. He just wanted to take a shower and sleep off his problem. However, no matter how much he sleeps, the brand will never go away. He's doomed.

"Shin-chan…if you were to find out about my being a Pulse l'cie, how would you react?"


End file.
